NFL player bashes Olympics opening ceremonies

Kansas City Chiefs’ kicker Harrison Butker is continuing his public opining on politics and religion. The latest example of that came around the 2024 Paris Olympics’ opening ceremonies Friday. Those ceremonies featured many moments referencing art and culture, with one of those moments featuring a tableau of performers including drag queens that recreated the image of Leonardo da Vinci’s 15th-century painting The Last Supper . And Butker took exception to that, quoting Bible passage Galatians 6:7-8 over a video of this (which, interestingly, has not been pulled down for copyright claims, unlike most other non-official tweets on these ceremonies):

Of course, this is far from the first time Butker has caused some controversy with his takes. In May, he gave a commencement speech at Benedictine College where he discussed “diabolical lies” told to women about focusing on careers rather than having children and also bashed birth control, abortion, COVID-19 lockdowns, and more.

That led to a lot of backlash , and to Serena Williams (who would be a featured torchbearer in these ceremonies) roasting Butker from the ESPYs stage earlier this month. That came during a segment on women’s sports, where she responded to her sister Venus’ “So, go ahead and enjoy women’s sports like you would any other sports because they are sports” with “”Except you, Harrison Butker. We don’t need you.” (Quinta Brunson then added “At all. Ever.”)  And that wound up being referenced in some of the takes on Butker’s reaction here, as did other seemingly-irreverent moments from the ceremonies and other past references to the “Last Supper” painting:

Butker was not the only one bothered by this, though. The “Last Supper” tribute here (which was part of a larger scene celebrating Dionysus) was one of several things from the Opening Ceremonies that sparked political debate , with the nearly-nude Dionysus and a separate metal band performance featuring the beheading of Marie Antoinette also drawing comment. But the “Last Supper” scene stood out for the vitriol it sparked, with others opposed also including far-right French politician Marion Maréchal (granddaughter of National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen and niece of Marie Le Pen), X/Twitter owner Elon Musk , and swimmer turned anti-trans activist Riley Gaines . And the backlash led to a statement from the Paris 2024 organizers, via Will Bolton of The Telegraph :

A spokesman for the Paris Olympic Committee said: “Clearly, there was never an intention to show disrespect towards any religious group or belief. On the contrary, each of the tableaux in the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony were intended to celebrate community and tolerance.”

They added it was not the first time artists had taken “inspiration from Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting”, adding: “From Andy Warhol to the Simpsons, many have done it before…”

Still, Butker’s take stood out as one of the most dramatic. And it certainly drew a lot of reaction, with the take he sowed here reaping strong comments both in support and opposition. This also led to some thinking back to Butker’s reaction to Williams’ comments on him, where he criticized her opinion on his opinions with “Sports are supposed to be the great unifier.” Well, they’re certainly not unifying at the moment, and Butker is part of that.

[Harrison Butker on X/Twitter]

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